Veranda Learning acquires TIME for Rs 287 crore

CHENNAI: Edtech firm Veranda Learning Solutions that recently went public has signed an agreement to acquire T.I.M.E. (Advanced Educational Activities Pvt Limited) for a consideration of Rs 287 crore.
The acquisition includes the business of spoken English training under the VETA brand and pre-school operations under T.I.M.E. Kids brand.
The 100% acquisition of Hyderabad-based T.I.M.E.will be in a phased manner with 80% of the outstanding capital along with management control in phase 1, followed by the purchase of the remaining 20% at the end of two years, subject to fulfilment of closing conditions, Veranda said in a statement.
The acquisition will help Veranda foray into MBA, NEET and JEE preparations, and the pre-school segment.
“The acquisition of T.I.M.E. allows Veranda to expand its national footprint with an asset that has known to have sent around 50% of all students admitted into the IIMs. T.I.M.E., which was one of the pioneers of online testing methodology in India, also gets to leverage Veranda’s core-engineering skills to make it the best in hybrid offering which will now include best-in-class products for each of its programmes," Kalpathi Suresh, executive director cum chairman, Veranda, said.
“We are confident that this will be a synergistic relationship and that much benefit will accrue to both partners. More importantly, we believe that it will also help us provide an even better product offering to our students," Manek Daruvala, founder & director, T.I.M.E., said.
T.I.M.E. is a test-prep institute with a pan-India presence operating through 188 centres including franchisees spread across 98 cities in India. T.I.M.E. offers training programmes for national and state-level entrance exams like CAT, MAT, CMAT, CLAT, IIT Foundation, JEE mains & advanced, NEET, among others. Having trained around 22 lakh students since its inception in 1992 and with a run rate of training almost 1.1 lakh students every year, T.I.M.E. recorded a revenue of around Rs 110 crore for the FY ended 2020-21.
InCredMAPE is the financial advisor for Veranda and JSA is the legal advisor for the proposed transaction.